GM faced intense heat from the bicycling advocacy world after the League of American Bicyclistsbrought attention to a GM ad aiming to sell cars to students. The ad is called “Reality Sucks” and reads “Stop pedaling… start driving” while showing a dorky guy on a bicycle trying to hide his face because he’s embarrassed about being on a bike.

“Reality Sucks, says GM… so does being unfit, in debt, stuck in traffic and paying through the wahoo for gasoline”

GM announced today through its twitter account that it is pulling the ad from rotation:

Copenhagenize accuses the automobile industry of striking back against the bicycle advocacy world by “subtle use of imagery to underline their point that cycling is geeky, only for poor souls and can’t compete with the sexed up car ownership world”.

Does the car industry feel threatened by the rise in bicycling in cities across the globe?

ZipCar recently faced criticism over an ad about cycling – though it didn’t belittle cyclists nearly as much as the GM ad.

Car companies should embrace bicycling culture. People who use bicycles often own cars – or at the very least they use cars occasionally. With bicycling on the rise in cities around the world it’s in the auto industry’s interest to think of new innovative ways to capture the hearts of bicyclists rather than marginalize them.

For example, GM could partner with a bicycle company and throw in a free bicycle for every car purchase. This would be a much better approach to market their cars to students.

Perhaps the tagline could read: “Get a free bicycle with a purchase of a GM vehicle. The bike gets you to class on time and the GM car gets home on time for Mom’s weekend dinner”.

GM has done the right thing by pulling the ads out of rotation, but the truly right thing to do would have been not to run the ads in the first place.

18 thoughts on “GM Pulls Anti-Cycling Ad”

What you can’t see is her growing muffin top, the 500 calorie latte in her cupholder and the beginnings of a case of heart disease or was that a case of the car-a-betes. Who knows.
OR
Maybe they just ran him off the road and are acting like jerk-offs… either way best not to make eye contact!

What you can’t see is her growing muffin top, the 500 calorie latte in her cupholder and the beginnings of a case of heart disease or was that a case of the car-a-betes. Who knows. ORMaybe they just ran him off the road and are acting like jerk-offs… either way best not to make eye contact!

I drive a truck, I admit it. I also live in the Midwest where it snows, rains, and is sometimes down right miserable. I’m not a super cyclist, and I hate riding in the rain. But I commute-by-bike when I can, and that alone makes a huge difference. The problem with most of these drivers is that they are transfixed in their ways. For most Americans, especially those who live outside major metropolitan areas with mass transit, the thought of taking a bus is as foreign as Afghanistan. Gotta change our culture first.

I drive a truck, I admit it. I also live in the Midwest where it snows, rains, and is sometimes down right miserable. I’m not a super cyclist, and I hate riding in the rain. But I commute-by-bike when I can, and that alone makes a huge difference. The problem with most of these drivers is that they are transfixed in their ways. For most Americans, especially those who live outside major metropolitan areas with mass transit, the thought of taking a bus is as foreign as Afghanistan. Gotta change our culture first.

Got to share this one…kind of ironic. When I met my wife (my freshman year HS fantasy girl by the way) at the age of 22, again…I hit her car with my motorcycle, package store parking lot, extended forks, balancing the 6 pack yadayada…anyways, I took the motorcycle apart, and started back up on my bicycle, commuting daily to work. Left a poem on Jans car every morning on my way to work…..well, this “dork on a bike” got his dream girl, and 30 years later, realizes he needs to end this post and go bicycling…

Got to share this one…kind of ironic. When I met my wife (my freshman year HS fantasy girl by the way) at the age of 22, again…I hit her car with my motorcycle, package store parking lot, extended forks, balancing the 6 pack yadayada…anyways, I took the motorcycle apart, and started back up on my bicycle, commuting daily to work. Left a poem on Jans car every morning on my way to work…..well, this “dork on a bike” got his dream girl, and 30 years later, realizes he needs to end this post and go bicycling…

I was glad to see they pulled this ad. I ride and drive, because that’s what works for me. I couldn’t drive the whole way in to work, because I’d never find a parking spot. But I can’t ride the whole way either, since I can’t take my bike on the interstate. I’ve actually got a folding bike, and I keep it in my trunk, and I drive when and I need to drive, and I ride when I can. Reality would *really* suck for me otherwise.

I was glad to see they pulled this ad. I ride and drive, because that’s what works for me. I couldn’t drive the whole way in to work, because I’d never find a parking spot. But I can’t ride the whole way either, since I can’t take my bike on the interstate. I’ve actually got a folding bike, and I keep it in my trunk, and I drive when and I need to drive, and I ride when I can. Reality would *really* suck for me otherwise.